Smithsonian’s Black History Museum to Get $10 Million Gift

The Smithsonian announced Wednesday that philanthropist David Rubenstein is making the donation to the capital campaign for the museum, set to open in September. He also is loaning the museum two documents signed by President Abraham Lincoln: the 13th Amendment and the Emancipation Proclamation.

Rubenstein, co-founder of the Carlyle Group, is a Smithsonian Board of Regents’ executive committee member and co-chair of the institution’s $1.5 billion national fundraising campaign. He now has contributed a total of $44.7 million to the institution.

With the gift, the museum’s fundraising has reached $252 million of its $270 million goal. The Smithsonian is raising half of the construction and exhibition funds, and Congress funded the other half.